We Indians have grown up on the stern mantra: Don’t waste food, either take on your plate only what you can eat or finish all that you put there. So when we find huge amounts of food being thrown away, we are naturally horrified. Hence at the recent Asia-Pacific Regional Rotary Magazine editors’ meet in the Gold Coast, I was horrified to learn how much food is wasted every year in Australia and the world. Hold your breath… here are the numbers. Every year 7.6 million tonnes of food, 70 per cent perfectly edible, costing the economy (A) $36.6 billion a year, is wasted in Australia. The majority of the food wasted (2.5 million tonnes) comes from homes.
Even more shocking is the statistic that there is enough food produced in the world to feed everyone, but the tragedy is that one-third of all food produced — around 1.3 billion tonnes — is lost or wasted, costing the global economy around $940 billion a year. As the cover story of this issue is about greening the world and saving our planet from the environmental degradation caused by many factors, consider this: Up to 10 per cent of global greenhouse gases comes from food that is produced, but not eaten.
These figures are given out by OzHarvest, an impressive Australian charity which “rescues” food that might soon be tossed off the shelves of supermarkets, grocery stores, local bakeries etc, and delivers it, either as foodgrains, fruits, vegetables etc, or cooked food, to the less privileged people through organisations working in the social sector. With a network of 2,400 donors, in 2024 it ‘rescued’ over 14,000 tonnes of food. Many Australian Rotarians partner with this charity in some of its events. The need for feeding the hungry even in a developed country like Australia can be gauged if you consider that while OzHarvest services the needy through 1,500 charities already, 1,000 more are on the waiting list. Read more about it in this issue (Pg 24)
While these charities work for eliminating human hunger, for which there is such a big need, even in the developed world, there is another class of warriors working desperately, passionately and against the clock to satiate both the hunger and thirst of Planet Earth which is weeping copiously and begging human beings to stop ravaging it. Making a difference in this battle, however minuscule it might be, is the incoming DG of RID 3192 Ravishankar Dakoju and his fellow environmental warriors such as Neil Joseph (from RC Bangalore Orchards) and Gajanan Kandelgaonkar (RC Kudal). Beginning from Karnataka and their home district (3192) where the plan is to plant one crore trees, the movement titled Dakoju Dhanyavad has now spread to Maharashtra and Goa, and the school network of Ryan International, which has 165 schools across India, is now been involved in this massive greening venture. (Read about it on Pg 12)
Every drop counts as they say. As Jaishree’s story (Pg 22) shows, in the 12 tribal villages in Bhabuk gram panchayat, 12km from Malda, West Bengal, there is a quiet green revolution underway. Step into any home, and you will most likely find a young jackfruit tree swaying gently in the breeze. RC Malda has undertaken this project to plant jackfruit trees and it will provide the beneficiaries some income when the trees yield fruit in a few years.
All it takes to make a dent in the evils of the world is a caring heart… and a pair of helping hands…
Rasheeda Bhagat